Noisy green aliens

The Safari came over all arty at the Rock Gardens earlier in the week. We couldn't find any moving wildlife close enough or in the light enough to point the camera at so opted for some stationary autumn colour/textures pics instead.

Ash keys

Cherry leaves

Greater Reedmace seed spike

A lovely morning to be in the park and very nice to chat to two other photographers out n about enjoying the early morning light before the cloud drifted in to become a wet afternoon.

In other news we've had a couple of visits to Marton Mere this week. We knew that there was going to be some reed clearing along the caravan site bank starting imminently so we wandered round that way stopping at the Feeding Station first. Grotty light means silly ISO numbers and often there wasn't too much to point the camera at, mostly Grey Squirrels and Pheasants along with a few Woodpigeons and Magpies, a couple of Blackbirds and a Robin or two - where are all the small birds?

On our first visit we saw the reed works hadn't yet been started so we mosied on down to the Fylde Bird Club hide. Again all was fairly quite but then all of a sudden one of the closest Mallards went on high alert

It had obviously seen something or been alerted to the presence of something by other birds, then we saw a load of Coots steam past all bunched up.

From a little further away other ducks had taken flight.

Gadwall

Shoveler

The gulls were circling in a noisy panic too, there was definitely something they didn't like about but from our vantage point we couldn't see what it was. Was it a Bittern stalking the waterside edge of the reedbed or an Otter swimming around? Whatever it was these Coot certainly weren't hanging around to become lunch.

And it's not often you catch a Coot in flight

We never did get to see the cause of the kerfuffle but we meet TS after leaving the hide and discovered the Otter had been swimming around in the middle of the mere for a good 10 minutes or more, dohhhhh must have been just a few feet to close to us not to be visible over the tops of the reeds to our left from where we were in the hide.

The rest of our visit was far less eventful with just a few Redwings seen in the scrub and along the hedgerows. They're so flighty this time of the year and very hard to approach close enough for a pic.

A couple of days later were were back, the early morning sun we'd been promised was obscured behind a veil of light cloud. We did our best with some processing back at Base Camp to bring some detail out of this Long Tailed Tit that posed nicely for us - thank the Lord for software wizardry!

The stars of the show today were a gaggle of noisy Ring Necked Parakeets at the Feeding Station - we've never seen them on the feeders here before - like we always say there's always something new to see see and discover in nature; it's impossible to get bored with it, you just need to get out and look around you.

First there was one parakeet, nervous when it first arrived, checking the coast was clear - or more likely weighing up the options as to which feeder was going to be easiest to raid. They aren't too happy with the presence of the Magpies and Grey Squirrels so it might have been waiting toil the coast was clear.

Minutes later it was down scoffing away

Not sure if it's using its bill as a third foot or it's trying to cut the wire to get in

And then there were two

And then there were three

Mum, dad and junior we think looking at the tail length on the right hand bird. No matter what you think of them being aliens and all, taking food from the native species and competition for nest holes, or not, they certainly brighten up an otherwise dull day.

Round the corner at the Dragonfly Den hide we found what we'd been hoping for, ranger and stalwart volunteer almost up to their necks in the cold water hacking away at the enormous reedbed and making a significant impression too.

Great jobs chaps (and T on the bank raking up) many thanks - much appreciated!

We went again yesterday with the intention of helping out with some bank work but there was no work party to join unfortunately. We had to make do with sitting in the hide enjoying the newly much widened view. Almost as soon as we sat down and were getting Monty settles the Bittern flew in from the left and landed right in front of us - had we been settled in our seat and had our camera ready already we'd have got a couple of awesome shots as it stalled and put out its great big yellowy-green feet to grab the reeds. Dohhh timing but what exceptional views and so close too!!

Back at the Feeding Station the Ring Necked Parakeets were back in action.

Back again with the CR today, only one Ring Necked Parakeet on the otherwise quiet Feeding Station. No Bitterns or Otters, the only photogenic subject were two of the three Goldeneyes on site.

We narrowly missed getting a pic (this is becoming a habit!) of a Stoat at the Fylde Bird Club hide when just as we were packing our gear away to move on it darted along the waters edge below us and stopped standing tall on its hind legs when we pished at it - again stonking views but sadly no pics - we'd just put the lens cap on the camera when it appeared. Maybe next time.

Where to next? We've got a dancing date on the promenade tomorrow afternoon, the tide will be up at sunset when hopefully the thousands of Starlings will be murmurating before they go to roost under the pier.

In the meantime let us know who's all big, brash and green in your outback.

A busy week followed by frustrating fog

The Safari had a few opportunities to look at the sea this week but there wasn't much doing. On Thursday we joined up with a local Community Arts group to see what natural materials and things wild we could find for their project. We started off at the chapel at the entrance to the old cemetery 

We measured some trees, finding out their age with a tape measure and a clever piece of card and a friend to discover their height. One some of the trees have had a garnish of bat boxes placed around them.

Anywhere where there's old(ish) trees we look for faces in them. This one's probably no the best we'll ever find.

Beneath the trees we found a few fresh fungi coming up through the grass.

We found a Holly tree which had been attacked, like almost all Holly trees, by the Holly Leaf Miner fly. This one has hatched rather than the larva within the leafbeen predated or parasitised.

Well if we've got Holly, there must be Ivy nearby.

Ivy has lots of good shapes, patterns and forms

And there even some berries left for the birds. 

The group we were with were trying to identify the trees from their twigs and buds. So what's this one folks?

Close by was an Ash tree with its distinctive chocolate brown buds and flattened twigs. So for a bit of a clue we told them the old adage about which of the pairs' leaves coming out first will determine if we have a splash of a summer or  a soak of a summer to come. No sign of any leaves on either of the trees yet.

A nice Wild Cherry tree stood all gnarly on the intersection of to of the avenues.

Some trees around the cemetery have had to be felled and they have left some interesting stumps like this one with a big see-through hole in it, possibly the reason why it was felled.

Along with twig collecting our group were also doing some bark rubbing. Another one for you, what;s this snap from?

A very pleasant couple of hours out. On the way back to the office we stopped off at the waste depot but there wasn't a single gull on the roof.

The following day we were entertaining a half-term holiday group rockpooling on the beach, our first of the year. We thought we'd best do a recce to see the lie of the land - well the sand anyways - and what was about. Good job we did as we found a huge tangle of fishing line with a massive hook in it right where the children would be exploring and no doubt their eagle eyes would have been attracted to the bright colour.

We put it out of reach but somewhere we could show them and tell them about the dangers of marine litter. Then we spotted something else in the pool. On closer inspection it was a large bullet! Where'd that come from?

Having seen corroded live ordnance before we thought it best to call the police. They came and took it away...in his pocket, so much for it being unstable and deadly dangerous!

With the beach all safe and well the kids came and had a great time. A flock of about 100 Pink Footed Geese flew over but they didn't notice they were concentrating too much on hat was around their feet.

Tiny hands soon filled our tubs with all manner of goodies gleaned from the pools and sands.

 Catch of the day was left to us, with this Dab.

Actually we cheated as we knew where it was because it was buried in the sand attached to the fishing line we collected earlier. We' cut the line but there was no chance of removing the hook so we don't reckon much for its chances. When we let it go the children were fascinated watching it wriggle to bury itself.

The enjoyed that more than the fossils we found them, Crinoids aren't as impressive as dinosaurs even if they are much older

After work we took Monty to the park and had a surprise on the way in the form of a couple of rather early 'blooms' of Meadow Foxtail, anyone else seen any spring grasses in flower yet? Sorry about the grotty pic it was almost dark and a  bit breezy.

Far more expected in mid-February are the Snowdrops in blossom around the base of several of the trees.

Where to next? Our bad hands have got tired of typing so we'll have to tell you about more community fun and all that frustrating fog next time.

In the meantime let us know who's very early in your outback.